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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
GOVERNOR HARDWICK DECLARES VEAZEY LAW IS BEING
ENFORCED
CONTRARY STATEMENTS DISPROVED BY PUBLICATION OF HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH SA
VANNAH’S SOLICITOR GENERAL.
So many politicians promised to enforce the Vea-
ley or Convent Inspection Act in each campaign since
it was put on the law books of the state that there is
a widespread belief in anti-
Catholic circles that the
act is now a dead letter
law. This belief was no
doubt strengthened by the
outrageous statements of
the Junior Senator from
Georgia last spring to the
effect that many of the
thousands of missing girls
throughout the United
States mig’ht be found de
tained against their will in
Savannah Catholic con
vents.
In spite of the Junior
Senator’s failure to an
swer the open letter ad
dress to him by the Cath-
olist Laymen’s Association
of Georgia, asking that he name one, just ONE, of
the girls so detained, and the statement of the Sa
vannah juries that they had inspected the convents
of the city as the law provides, the idea that the
FROM THE METTER ADVERTISER.
In calling the hand of Senator Thomas E.
Watson of Georgia and inviting him “to stand
up and be counted” in answer to a series of
questions touching Mr. Watson’s statement
that a majority of missing girls were captured
by Catholic priests, the Catholic Laymen’s As
sociation has met the wishes of a great many
people in the State who are not members of the
Catholic Church or believers in that faith. There
are many people who have been disgusted at the
attacts made upon this denomination and others
have been made to wonder how public confi
dence can be reposed" in any man who makes a
hobby of calumiating a religious sect.
law is not being enforced is so strong that Governor
Hardwick wrote Solicitor Walter C. Hartridge of
the Savannah Circuit, asking for a statement on the
subject. The correspond
ence between Governor
Hardwick and Solicitor
Hartridge which was is
sued by the Governor to
allay the spirit of religi
ous intolerance in the
state, shows that since the
constitutionality of the act
Was tested in the courts of
the state, shortly after it
became a law, it has been
strictly enforced.
The Catholic Laymen’s
Association has sent copies
of a circular, containing
correspondence between
the Governor and the So
licitor, to every member of
tT , _ the U. S. Senate, and the
House of Representatives and to the editors of Georg
ia together with a letter recalling the Junior Senat
or s charges and the relation of the Hardwick-Hart-
ndge correspondence to them. The circular follows-
“WATSON’S WHITE GIRL SLAVE PENS”
» f Letter from the Governor of Georgia to the solicitor General of Savannah Judicial District, with Reply
of the Solicitor General, as Given Out and Commended by the Governor of Georgia and Published in the At
lanta Journal of September 26, 1921, Night Extra Edition, Page 1, Col. 5.) uonsnea m the At-
GOYERNOR HARDWICK’S LETTER
“Hon. Walter C. Hartridge,
“Solicitor General, Savannah Judical Circuit,
“Savannah, Ga.
“Dear Mr. Hartridge:
“By way of premise, I beg to invite your atten
tion to the enclosed correspondence, which is self-ex
planatory and intended for your information.
“There seems to exist in this state a wide-spread
belief that the Veasey law, providing for the inspec
tion of certain institutions, is a dead-letter so far as
its enforcement in your judical circuit is concerned.
“I think this impression may rest, to some ex
tent, upon the resistance once made by some of these
institutions to certain efforts to enforce this law.
“I am writing to inquire of you exactly what the
situation is in respect to this matter in your judicial
circuit, and to urge you if necessary, to use every ef
fort to see that the law is impartially and rigidly en
forced.
“I believe that it will make for a much better con
dition of public sentiment if this law is rigidly en
forced in every judical circuit of the state, and if the
people and public are officially advised that such is
the case.
“Will you please be good enough to advise me as
to what the situation is with respect to this matter
in your circuit, and what steps are being taken to en
force this law.
“With assurances of my high personal regards,
I am,
“Very sincerely yours,
(Signed) “Thomas W. Hardwick,
“Governor”
SOLICITOR HARTRIDGE’S REPLY
“Hon. Thos. W. Hardwick,
“Governor of Georgia,
“Atlanta, Ga.
“Dear Governor Hardwick:
“I am in receipt of your favor of the 20th in
stant, and thank you for taking up with me the mat
ter about which you write, as I have understood that
there exists a misapprehension throughout the state
on the question of the enforcement of the act known
as the Veazey bill in this circuit, and I am grateful
for the opportunity of correcting this erroneous im
pression.
“I desire to state to you that I have been present
as solicitor general at the opening of each term of
the superior court of Chatham county since the pas
sage of the Veazey bill and have heard the late Judge
Charlton and Judge Meldrim, who now presides in
that court, charge each successive grand jury, as re
quired by the act to do, on the subject of inspection
of certain institutions enumerated in the act. I have
read or heard read the report from each grand jury
from the first grand jury empanelled after the pas
sage of the act to the one last discharged, and I beg
to assure you that each and every grand jury has
done its full duty as disclosed by the reports made in
open court.